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Se ne _ PRACTICES RANGE FROM COMPLETE ACCESS TO NEWS BLACKOUTS THE OSHAWA TIMES, Thursday, October 31,1963 19 Smooth Techniques Used To Bar Press Coverage Of Public Affairs CP CROSS-CANADA SURVEY Secrecy in the delibera- tions of bodies conducting public affairs of the Com- munity level exists in vary- ing degrees across Canada. This story deals with the problem in municipal coun- cils, By JOHN LeBLANC Press Staff Writer A reporter called for a vote of city council before accepting an order to leave a meeting. In- stead, the mayor walked out, reporter had the door slammed in his face--The News says that "the tendency to hold commit- - |tee - of - the - whole sessions of most councils and boards in this area is growing more prev- alent." But when it draws this to the attention of the public there is little interest. "They seem to feel it's okay as long . they personally don't get urt."" HEEDED PROTESTS In some other places, the lo- cal lawmakers have reacted markedly to an_ unfavorable saying he wouldn't return until the reporter left. The reporter went out to per- suade the mayor to return for a vote, As the mayor walked back in, an alderman slammed the door shut in the reporter's face. The meeting went on with- out the press. Not often does a civic body saw off press coverage in such an unorthodox fashion when it wants privacy. The technique is usually smoother, though 1 var- ies from region to region. Mostly, it is within the lay) Sometimes, the municipal legis- press. When some Halifax {County council committees be- gan holding secret meetings-- Inot forbidden by law but con- \trary to practice--The Chron- licle-Herald and Mail-Star pro- ltested editorially, and all ses- sions were opened. * | "Elected representatives here are very sensitive to any sug- | sestion that they may not be joperating in the open," com- |ments C. R. McElhiney of the |Halifax dailies, On the other coast, steady pressure by newspapers and newscasters has reversed tend- lators stretch the law to accom-jencies towards secrecy 'in sev- modate it to their view of what/eral British Columbia' centres, public business should be trans-/but there remain pockets of re- acted openly. |sistance. A Cross-Canada Survey by! There was a running battle The Canadian Press indicates a'petween council and press up wide range of attitudes on the|to two years ago in Vancouver. part of civie officialdom toward news coverage of community affairs. For municipal councils, the gamut is from wide open to the occasional blackout. PUBLIC CARES LITTLE Answers by CP member dai- lies to a questionnaire point to a number of conclusions includ- ing: 1. Many councils have a tend- ency to transact more and more public business in private if no one protests. 2, Vigilance by the press has served to curb this tendency time and again. 3, Except under unusual cir- cumstances, the public gener- ally takes no particular inter- est either in secrecy or in at- tempts by the press to dispel it, Many newspapers report no problems with their local coun- cils, But others tell of such techniques as "caucuses," "'in- formal" or "privileged" ses- sions, overworking of the device of going into "committee of the whole'"'--aill with the press, ex- cluded--or just omitting to let it be known publicly that a meeting has been called, Across Canada also holding closed meetings. Such matters as personal af- fairs of employees and dealings that could affect property values are generally recognized as. subject to privacy, but a common complaint is that the councilmen close the door on too many other topics, SIDED WITH PRESS As a rule, decisions taken at such meetings are made known Officially later. Sometimes, it is much later, and lacks back- ground and; for instance, where a member stands on a ticklish issue, though on occasion re- porters get second-hand fill-ins. Few get the brushoff ac- corded colleagues at Chicoutimi, Que. Quebec law says councils can sit: behind closed doors Now, the secret meetings have stopped and reporters even are admitted to preliminary 'ses- sions of the city's budget com- mittee. . The Victoria situation is good now, though: eight years ago there was a fight to overcome a rash of council '"'committee"' sessions, Esquimalt and Kam- loops still have secrecy prob- lems. half of the first 104 meetings in 1963 were of this type. Minutes pre available to reporters, but usually not until they are ap- proved some weeks later. COUNCIL ADAMANT In neighboring Carleton County, reporters have found life frustrating since the 1950s when the council got into a feud with the press, This is what happens: The press is admitted at the start of a meeting; there is a motion to go into commit- tee of the whole, and the press is ordered to leave. Next day, the clerk - treasurer gives out what he has been instructed to release, Editorial criticism has brought no result, Municipal legislators at Saint John, N.B., on occasion take advantage of a provision that matters involving the 'legal li- ability" of the city need not be discussed openly. These "'legal'"' sessions were becoming longer and more numerous up to 1960, when The Telegraph - Journal and The Times-Globe attacked the practice and obtained the publication of a withheld report on the police department. They report: "At one time, under strong criticism from the newspapers and the public, the common council voted against holding the so-called committee-of-the- whole meetings in private. They have slipped back into it, but the situation is not as bad as a few years ago." TREND TO SECRECY A system of slipping from public into private meetings also has grown up with the city council at St. John's, Nfld., and has come under criticism in the press. The council under pro- vincial legislation must meet MEET IN PRIVATE In a class by itself is Mont- real's civic operation where the city council has never ben known to meet behind closed doors but its seven-man execu- tive committee--which in prac- tice exercises the real power-- always does. In heavy periods, the commit- openly unless it calls, or de- clares itself by vote to be, a "special or privileged' session. As it works out, the council holds its public meeting once a week and then declares itself adjourned. The press and public jleave. The councillors do not. The News commented in July: "There was a time when the tee meets almost daily. Its res-|council sat as a miniature par- olutions are distributed to the/liament with major policy ques- press, along with background|tions openly and sometimes ac- material. Some of these have to| be ratified by the council, which has to meet (publiriy) only four times a year but in fact usually has.an additional 10 or 12 special meetings. The closed cofnmittee meet- ings are allowed under Mont- real's 75-year-old charter A3- sistarit city clerk Albert-Caston-|F- guay, who issues its resolutions to the vress, says they are justified on the ground of deal- ing with "internal manage- ment," though the committee can on its own approve spend- ing items up to $10,000 and award contracts up to $5,000 without tenders, : Ottawa's board of control holds "special" meetings to close out the press, and exactly SMART WOMEN ... Have their carpets ond uphol- stery cleaned 'The Safe Way' by DURACLEAN 728-8518 rimoniously debated in public session. .. , The council fune- tions today more like a board of directors with major policy debated in secret." Press complaints helped dis- pel an aura of secrecy in Este- van here--despite wan legislation that city coun- cil meetings must be open--the council often met privately after Estevan became a city six years ago, An_ investigation launched by the municipal af- fairs department brought im- provement, FIGHT MEMO SYSTEM Another newspaper campaigt was launched by the Prince Al- bert Herald when Mayor Allen Barsky of that Saskatchewan city initiated a memo system to distribute comment on city ac- tivities by department heads. Ray Guay, Herald managing editor, says it delays the flow of news, while Mayor Barsky con- tends he is entitled to know what his officials are saying be- fore he reads it in the news- papers or hears it on the air, The Herald's campaign, and a Civic Voters Association es- tablished in an attempt to beat the problem, have not yet changed the system, Elsewhere, the press has met varying degrees of success in holding down the -aldermanic urge to meet behind -- closed doors. Secrecy by the Korah Town- ship council was rapped editori- ally by the Sault Ste. Marie Star in recent months, and now all meetings are open from start to finish. The Lethbridge city council had a habit last year of going into committee at the drop of a hat. It has happened only twice this year, since a strong cam- paign by The Herald. Saskatche-| thing The Medicine Hat News has been campaigning more than a year against the use of statu- tory loopholes by civic bodies-- be used. Some trust to the dis-|which cretion of the newspapers, URGES VIGILANCE Individual newspapers have accepted all three forms of coverage, though a number will not permit reporters to at- tend where the council exer- cises. control over what is printed. A tough stand by the press is the best barrier to secrecy, says C. M. Fellman, managing editor of the North Bay Nugget, refuses to be "pushed around" and has no trouble with public bodies. He says: "It is my own feeling that if a council tends to become se- cretive, a good part of the fault lies entirely with the newspaper for not being aggressive enough. A lazy hew; r will give a council a feeling that ail is well with the world and it will drift along giving the citi- zens a minimum amount of in- formation." especially city council--to call private meetings, so that every- is set. up before it sees the light of day. It reports a 'faint but hea: i by public unconcern, The Fort William Times-Jour- nal finds no great tendency to- ward secret meetings of city council. "It has been tried from time to time but was so vigor- ously opposed editorially that councils are hesitant to repeat." By refusing to accept hand- outs or sit through committee- of - the - whole meetings except with freedom to report, the Pembroke Observer has regis- tered some success with city council and other boards there, but none with others. Different newspapers handle in different ways the problem of the council that allows report- ers to sit in on closed mect- ings. At some of these, the council permits the newspaper man to absorb background but not use anything at the time. Some councils direct what may SHORGAS HEATING & APPLIANCES Industrial and Commercial The established, relioble Gas Dealer in your area. 31 CELINA ST. 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EAST 725-5277 LOTS OF FREE PARKING when a majority wishes but veteran Mayor Rosaire Gau- thier has regularly barred re- porters on his own. On a re- cent occasion, so many council members walked out with the press that he was left without a quorum and had to capitulate. In Chatham, Ont.--where the Lump Sum Aid To Hospitals OHSC Scheme TORONTO (CP)--The govern- ment-sponsored Ontario Hospi- tal Services Commission may begin doling out grants in an- nual lumps to some Ontario hospitals as early as 1965, hos- pital trustees were told Tues-) day. More than 600 trustees heard E. P, McGavin, finance com- missioner: for the services com- mission, describe the new sys- tem of financing--global budget- ing--now being considered by the commission and the Onta- rio Hospital Association. The new system, the annual association conference was told, would provide hospitals with far greater budgetary autonomy. It would also mean hospitals would be free to transfer money from one department within the institution to another. The commission now covers the estimated cost of each de- partment by semi -. monthly grants and hospitals are not en- tirely free to transfer funds without commission approval. In other matters, Dr, John Neilson, chairman of the Onta- rio Hospital Services Commis- sion, said there is a general shortage of beds in the prov- ince's hospitals although statis- tics may not show it. CENTRE OPENED LONDON (CP) -- An export information centre opened here contains 85,000 volumes of sta- tistics on world trade, telephone ao. from Pri countries a oreign language di¢- tionaries. -- ead | 'For the first time, two ales have been blended to give you a smoother, more mellow flavour than it's possible to brew in a single ale. 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